Sunday, August 30, 2009

The kids around and in my home have discovered the classic: card in the spokes = sounds like a motor. Vroom.

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Today’s Transport –Bike: 1.3

The four of us went for a short slow ride today. All those miles at less than 6mph average. We went to the corner for lawn mower fuel and snack type items. I love buying gas by bike.

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Folks from the Sioux Falls Bike Collective attended Bike!Bike! a national cooperative effort to educate bike type people about not-for-profit bike projects. One of their guys sent a pretty optimistic report via the Facetubes that he’s bringing some new ideas back here with him.

A woman at the farmer's market made a point of reading my t-shirt today. "The MinusCar Project", she said. "Minus is the new plus." She laughed in just the right way to indicate she didn't understand. I didn't bother to explain that it's similar to the principles by which she surely raises her natural beef.

Sertoma Ave is being widened and urbanized between 12th and 26th. The City is building capacity for almost 32,000 vehicles a day in 20 years. A bike lane is being installed. I enjoyed the completed portion of that today and dealt with one vehicle.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

When I don't blog I don't make errors here. When I occasionally blog I occasionally make errors. Now that I try to do something everyday…well…

First: I rode the freshly laid sharrow today nearly from tip to top. It in fact doesn’t stay on West from 41st to 22nd. It jogs at 28th, east one block, to take advantage of the traffic control device at 26th and Lake. I also noticed in the course of today’s travels that many of the sharrows on 22nd St have been refreshed.

Second: Reverend Billy Talen secured twice the required signatures to be placed on the NYC Mayoral ballot. I noted with interest a headline today indicating that incumbent Mayor Bloomberg feels as though he’s running unopposed. He’s probably right, but I believe being in the game is more important than winning - especially when the game is unwinnable.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

In defense of questionable but resourceful craftsmanship here. The rear tire was without duct tape – and flat.

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I should have mentioned tensions were high on yesterday’s bus ride. There was a strike to a thigh and a kick in return. A shout of, “Quit kicking me!” and then he scampered off the bus to avoid additional recourse. It was incredibly childish.

I also saw someone get hissed at; with unconfirmed reports of trace amounts of venom.

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The bike trail north of Maple will closed for repaving beginning tomorrow - with apology for short notice. Repaving? Shut it down yesterday without notice if you’re going to repave it – is my opinion. Thank you The City.

Storms this morning forced a late departure from home and a motor assisted drive to work.

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During the day I heard rumor and later was able to confirm from the bus – the sharrows proposed as part of the alternate on-street route of the bike path have been painted. The proposal was West Ave from south of 41st to 22nd. 22nd Street has existing sharrows. South of 41st the sharrows zig and zag and ultimately discontinue near the 49th and Western intersection.

I think I’ll dub this the Drube sharrow. He’ll probably insist on the Christensen sharrow.

Monday, August 24, 2009

When I look around the city and wonder how it is that we ended up with the transportation structure we have now - I know the answer. 25 years ago a group like Shape Sioux Falls got together and thought it would be a good idea to make arterial roads every mile and then roads that go nowhere inside each square mile.

Tomorrow is another time for me to see what my generation’s Shape Sioux Falls is doing and see if I have any of my own suggestions.

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This weekend was the downtown criterium. I volunteered all day with CycleSD keeping confused motorists and indifferent pedestrians generally out of the way of the racing action at 6th & Phillips. I have no idea who won the races but I saw a lot of left turning and certainly enjoyed myself.

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Seemingly unrelated – I can’t wait for my next visit to Pickle Barrel.

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At the race I caught up with a The MinusCar Project reader. She and her husband are in their 6th year of car free living. She's pregnant. They were looking at a car purchase but began to wonder if they weren't shopping for something now that they really won't need for another five years. Car shopping is on hold.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

I continue to enjoy the reports from New Jersey about police officers detaining a crazy looking dude walking in the rain. Seems claiming to be Bob Dylan and on-tour with Willie Nelson and John Cougar Mellencamp isn't helpful.

When asked why he was walking in the rain Bob sa - what?!? Don't ask Bob Dylan why he was walking in the rain! Have we learned nothing from him?

Good demonstration here from Bob showing a right proper way to be detained by police.

Today I was prepared to do my own walking in the rain today but suitable clouds proved elusive.

Today was my first experience with the new time tables. I've complained here about the unreliability of some routes at the end of the day. They've added time for the routes during peak hours. It adds a level of complexity to the time tables but it also makes arrivals and departures much more predictable. Therefore, reliable.

Monday, August 17, 2009

It’s the first day of school. To me it's a bit like a new year. Drastic changes to the routine. It’s time to try to implement some new goals; see if they stick.

It also begins year five of The MinusCar Project.

Recently I managed to acquire (technically at this point I’ve stolen it) a used GPS. This enables me to measure not just bike miles but ALL transportation miles. This presents some interesting possibilities.

Today's transportation in miles -Bike: 17.3Walk: 1.1

The day began with the first of hopefully many bike rides to school with The Boy 7. The principal greeted us with, "it's the bike riding family." Yes, it wouldn't be a community without at least one crazy family.

Walking from my training session I observed the South Dakota Cycle-Ogy rider taking to the streets. I also noticed it takes me an additional 3 minutes to walk fro rather than to the session.

I added some miles with some post-work errand running; printer paper (recycled), printer cartridge (re-filled) and some point zero two dollar stamps. Out of curiosity I weighed the 20lb bag when I arrived home. Guess how heavy it was?

The transportation day ended with the first of hopefully many bike rides from school with The Boy 7.